???
It's been a while since you last stopped by.
I know you're busy with all your studies all the time but it would really mean a lot to me if you could come by and see us when you can.
...We really miss you.
...It's lonely being out here by ourselves. I know you say it's for our own good but I'm sick of not being with the other civilizations.
The world is dying ???, the planet is rejecting itself and right now all we can do is watch and let it happen.
I understand you have this sense of responsibility to try and use your abilities to fix everything but the High Council Twelve are already on top of it all. It's their job to take care of the world, not yours. If you keep this up you might end up killing yourself, I mean it.
It's like you always say right? Time is of the essence, and what better way to spend that time with your lover and child?
Come home ???. Come see how much ??? has grown.
Please, just do...
Before it's too late.
???
????
?????!
-
The community library was nothing more than just a rundown establishment managed by no more than three people. Each self was filled to the brim with handwritten stories of ancient tales and adventures along with donated biographies that often kept clutter in people's basements.
Every page and every cover was dusted in food stains and markings, indicating they were around several years old, some so ancient even the elderly could remember when they were first received,
That's what often makes it one of the best places to go for research. Almost every source of information was credible and required no further excess of background sourcing.
Maya didn't get to go often, since owning a book wasn't free, but if she could sneak a few pages in before she left she would walk home with a smile on her face.
Maria wasn't as much of a bookworm as she was, she appreciated reading though to only a certain extent, never really soaking in the fantasies and folklores the books offered them. Fiction felt too unrealistic to her, and non-fiction was always long and boring, she had once told Maya.
Still, there would be days where Maya would save up enough pocket cash to pick out a story for the two of them to both reads together, cuddled up safely in the warm cushions of the children's reading room, and staying there till midnight when they knew it was best to return home before the high snow would block their paths.
Only just being there for less than a few minutes Maria already approached their study table with a large handful of books, placing them down aggressively onto the wooden furniture.
"Alright," Maria smirked pridefully, "let's begin."
Maya stared at the large tower of books regretfully, reaching for the first one and rapidly flipping through the pages. The words were tiny and the story awfully dull and bland, which made sense because they were research documents, not fairytales.
Maria noticed the sour look on Maya's face and began to question it, "Why so dull? Are these not what you wanted?"
Maya sighed, "No it not that, it's just...I wish we were reading something else that's all."
Maria shook her head disappointingly, "Maya, come on, you and I both know we are much too old to keep reading those children's stories, right? We're big girls now, and we need to read big girl things. We can't get a good grade if we only search for fiction-based novels."
"I know, I know..." still Maya sounded like she refused to accept it.
Maria huffed in frustration and crossed her arms, "Remember you Tamarin, I'm doing this to help you out. If you're expecting me to do all the work myself-"
"Fine," Maya groaned, grabbing another random book from the pile and flipping it open. Maria seemed pleased with her efforts, sitting across from her and grabbing a book herself. Soon both girls were studying and taking mental notes on what they wanted their project to be like.
"Most of this is self-made recipes on previously invented healing ointment concoctions. I've also snagged a few diary entries from old soldiers of the past. With some digging, we might be able to find a page about how they used to treat their wounds, and maybe gain an idea of what type of plants we should use."
All of her words went through one ear and out the other. To Maya, it didn't matter. In the end, they would just be reading the same dull old things.
A few minutes passed, though it felt like hours, and soon Maya was bored, playing with a random pencil she found on the floor.
"This is due by the end of the week right?" She asked.
"Shh!" Maria hushed, who seemed to be deep into her novel. Maria was the type of person where if she was focused on something it would take an actual earthquake to drive her out of it. Realizing this Maya sighed for what felt like the fifth time that single hour, standing up suddenly.
"I have to go pee," she told Maria, who didn't even so much blink an eye at her lack of presence.
She searched around for a bathroom but soon gave up the minute she found herself in the fictional section of the library. She must have not been here in a while if she already forgot where everything was. Or maybe she unconsciously came out of habit, like she usually does. Whatever the reason, she was here now, nothing could change that.
She dragged her fingers across the covers, feeling the way they ran under her skin, and thumbed the books softly as she walked by. She felt upset she couldn't find the time to read any one of these things, not without Maria growing ever so displeased.
Or so she thought.
She could pick something short and read it quick, find someplace to hide that was comfy enough before she returned. Maria was already heavily distracted, so it would take her a while to notice her absence, and if she asked she could just blame it on the lunch she ate a while ago. She just had to make sure she didn't get caught...
...red-handed.
She looked behind her to ensure Maria hadn't been watching before quickly searching for something to read. After skimming the titles she found something that caught her attention. It looked new, considering how bright and clear the cover was, and was doused in an attractive layer of prosthetic gold.
She snatched it swiftly, before crouching as she looked for a nice hiding spot to read in.
After walking for some time she managed to find a hallway between two bookshelves somewhere off in the far back. She pressed the book tightly to her chest before sitting down and making herself comfy. She sighed softly, turning to the first page and already feeling at ease. Away from those stuffy non-fiction tales, filled with nothing more than the depressed writing of some old geezer way back then talking about how poor they are or how youthful they used to be.
This, this was her element.
She barely got through to the first chapter before her body started to ache, extending her arms out in a stretch and a yawn. Unbeknownst to her, there was a ladder right next to her, and the small action had caused it to tip over.
"Wah?.." She didn't process it yet but grew immediately fearsome upon seeing the large equipment beginning to slowly fall over. With a yell she jolted to her feet and attempted to grab the ladder with her hands, pulling it towards herself in hopes of balancing it back in its place. The thing was heavy and was started to pull her forwards too, luckily she was strong enough and with one ferocious tug, she yanked it back.
It seems she underestimated her true strength and now the ladder was beginning to tip towards her, just about ready to topple over with her underneath.
"Gah!"
This is it, this is where she would die. Squashed underneath a metallic ladder in the corner of the fiction section of the library. She just hoped some innocent kid with the same intent as hers wouldn't wander in accidentally and bear witness to her bleeding-crushed corpse.
In an attempt to save herself she tried walking backward, or rather crawling, but halted as her back collided with a bookcase behind her. She let out a scream, one loud enough to get her banned for days, and covered her face with her arms.
Fortunately, the ladder was tall and had stopped falling forward upon once it had hit the bookshelves. Unfortunately, the ladder was heavy and had begun to push the shelves themselves back.
This is it, this is where she would go to jail. Sure the ladder didn't manage to squash her but it would definitely take the lives of some poor innocent suckers on the otherside.
It was an ironic domino effect, and if her luck wears for worse the currently toppling bookshelf would probably collide with a few others, making an, even more, bloodier crime scene.
The bookshelf toppled, the ladder fell, and her body soon followed suit.
She grew dizzy and sick, before realizing she was spinning, which made no sense because she should be dead by now. Her stomach was in a knot and she felt lightheaded, which made her realize she was falling!
Her eyes were closed and everything was pitch dark, her throat felt like she was screaming but she couldn't hear herself through the wind wishing against her ear. For a moment the thrill, the fear, the adrenaline, it all became too much for her, and she passed out.
When she came to her entire backside ached, as though she had just collided with the ground. Which...made sense because she probably did. She groaned and sat up roughly, a cough lingering on her tongue as though she couldn't breathe. It took a while for the pain to disappear and when it did she was finally able to make sense of her surroundings.
Or...not?
The room she was in (was it even still a room, it felt more like a chamber) appeared to be some other separate hidden library, thousand of stairwells that led to another hallway of dusty chapters that stretched so far her eyes couldn't even see. The only source of light was a few dimly lit candles, which should have burned out eons ago.
In the center was a beautiful water fountain with a statue of a man on top of a horse holding a slender long yet oddly shaped spear. Gently streams of water continued to flow throughout the fountain, which followed along the cracks within the ground and lead to different directions.
She was confused as to how she ended up in such a place and looked behind her to search for a door. However, there didn't appear to be any, which troubled her even more. She recalled falling and had assumed she must have hit her head and this was all a dream.
Her curiosity got the better of her when she noticed a small pillar that stood in front of the statue of the man. On the pillar was a blue book, that almost seemed as though it were glowing, with no dust on it despite how old and untouched Maya expected it to be. It was the only book that stood out from the rest and it seemed the most important.
As she approached the pillar a part of her was hesitant, not daring to touch it yet in fear of some negative response to her interference. She extended her fingers out, barely grazing the cover, watching the way the light around it seemed to melt-
"Maya?"
Maya let out a startled gasp, turning around in fear, and almost felt herself fall back knocking the pillar down. Clumsy Maya, as always. Maria, in the flesh, stood behind her, carrying a blank face with confusion etched onto it, "What are you doing in here?"
"Goddesses Maria," Maya exclaimed, hand pressed tightly against her chest as she felt her heart pound. "How did you even get in here?"
"I notice you were gone for a while and went to check in on you, then saw you topple over a ladder and a bookshelf like the clumsy girl you are. Afterward, a hole in the ground revealed itself and you fell through it. I was worried so I followed you," Her eyes scanned the room as if just then noticing the major change in scenery, "What even is this place?"
Still, a bit shaken up Maya was hesitant to reply, "I-I don't know, I just somehow ended up in here, but I couldn't find out a way out."
Maria let out a sound of acknowledgment, letting the scenery sink into her brain before giving it her official stamp of approval.
This place was nice.
After she was done analyzing she noticed the glowing object behind Maya along with the large statue. Her eyes open in shock, "Wow, what is that?"
"I-"
Maya was immediately pushed out of the way as Maria walked past her, staring at the figure of the man in shock. She noticed the book on the stand and grabbed it hurriedly, flipping through the first few pages.
"Maria, wait!" Maya shouted, grabbing at her friend's arm, "we don't know if we should be touching that."
"You were going to do it anyway weren't you?" Maria smirked, "I'm sure it's fine."
With that, her eyes quickly scanned the contents in the book, entering that state of mind where not even the skies could disrupt her reading. Completely ignoring Maya's concerns she flipped through the pages rapidly, astonished with her findings.
"This book has information about this room!" She exclaimed.
That got Maya interested, so she stopped fighting her to put it back down.
"Wait let me see."
Maria tilted the book and handed one end to Maya so both girls could evenly read. This reminded Maya of back when they would spend their time in the library together as kids, sharing stories and laughter together as the days melted away.
Maria used her finger to point towards the line she was reading from, "See here, it says this: This room is a secret hidden chamber that was requested to be built by the current King of the Nero empire."
Maya snorted to herself, to think that in the past they had called it the 'Nero empire' and not the 'Neo'. What were her ancestors thinking?
"It was meant to be a chamber to hide away information about the man in the statue and the official safe place towards the second clue to finding the blessings of The Majestic Five."
Maya raised an eyebrow, "Majestic five?"
Maria skimmed the pages a bit more, looking for the answer to Maya's question. "Here! Long ago, several tests and competitions were held to determine who amongst the individual five nations were the strongest. Those that succeded at accomplishing these feats were deemed as The Majestic Five, making them the strongest in their nation and the strongest in the world."
They both looked up to stare at the man in the statue and figured that he must have been a part of the group they were reading about. It wasn't too hard to believe, judging from his physical form and built body he seemed the type that knew his way on the battlefield.
Maya continued reading where Maria left of, "This man, Lord Arillaga, was the strongest of all the Nero Empire soldiers and military men, and fought many battles to which were all sought victorious in his name."
Maria tapped her finger, now gloveless, to her chin. "I've heard of that name before...Arillaga.....Ah! Isn't it the last name of our current King Adrian?"
Looking back on it, it was. Most children around their age didn't bother with politics, and it was highly excepted that some of them didn't even know the first name of the King that ruled them, less likely the last.
It's hard to care about someone who doesn't seem to care about you at all.
"If this man's last name was really Arillaga then that would mean he was a part of the royal family," Maya confirmed.
Maria squinted her face into a one of thought, "If that's true he must have been a ruler some time ago, considering the fact that King Adrian only recently took the throne and this place seems to be old and untouched, this book was most likely written before the previous King was even born? So it must have been his grandfather or great-grandfather to cut it close."
"That would explain much about how the Royal family came to be." The only people eligible to be king were those that came from the descendant bloodline of the Arillaga family. Perhaps that was the way the Lord intended it to be. He must be proud, knowing that many years have passed and his bloodline still lingers.
She looked up once more into the face of the still man, mumbling to herself, "I wonder if that's how all royalty was created within all the other nations as well..."
"There's more, apparently some horrible incident occurred many years ago and all the members of The Majestic Five lost their lives. Before their passing Lord Arillaga gave a portion of his power away and turned it into a blessing, which is hidden somewhere deep within the castle grounds of the Empire.
Apparently, in order to discover this room, you would have located the very first clue within the Castle itself, indicating you are nothing but royalty and rightly deserve the contents which are in relationship towards the blessings."
This made their eyes widen a bit.
"We...didn't find any clue though," Maya muttered to herself.
Maria scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Obviously not. Do we look like royalty to you? We found this room because of your dumb luck, and it's likely that the next clue and the remaining evidence is also in the castle ground as well."
Maya lamented in defeat, "Then it's over, we'll never be given the chance to go there ourselves. We might as well put it back and pretend we never saw it-"
"Are you serious!" Maria yipped, "there's no way we can just pretend we weren't here. Don't you understand what this means?" A look of pure disappointment and frustration practically swam in her eyes when Maya continued to stand there dumbfounded. "You really are more feeble-minded than I thought."
"This book contains the secret location to possibly the most powerful item in the entire continent," she continued. "If we informed the King of what we discovered he could search for the remaining missing clues and find the blessing of his ancestors."
Maria already began to beam in excitement, "I wonder what it is. Perhaps its money~"
"Why would the most powerful man alive leave nothing but money behind for people who are already born rich?"
A shrug, "Who knows. Money can be a weapon, it can manipulate people and control lives. Perhaps maybe he predicted we'd all be broke and put all his savings account into some hidden storage room somewhere just waiting to be found."
Ignoring Maria's reasonings she put more thought into what she said before. In a way, she was right. This blessing was obviously intended to be placed in the hands of the royal family, and although she is not a great fan of the King himself it would be upsetting to see such an opportunity go to waste.
Besides, what were the odds that the current king would actually find such a clue? If the contents in this room were that old it would indicate that those chances were likely low. Perhaps she and her family may receive a handsome reward for speeding up the discovery process.
If this blessing was as extreme as the book was making it to be, it might even be able to put more food on the table at the same time.
That would truly be a blessing.
-
The sound of heavy footsteps, mixed in with the texture of thick metal armor shifting was the first indication of what they all dreaded to come.
A large battleship, one ballistic looking with the embedded design of a flaming bird on the front parked its way along the ocean lines of the Neo Empire, a total number of three people stepping outside.
As they began to approach the gate leading towards the entrance of the castle the guardsmen hesitated not to hide their scowl faces and permit entryway to the man of the hour. The mysterious person held a smile on his face at the sign of welcome, and proceed deep into the castle grounds, where two maidens awaited for him, bowing respectfully before leading the way to his destination.
He and the other three men followed the lovely ladies all the way deep inside until they found themselves at the front of a door where two more guards stood. Both guards turn to the side and opened each individual door, parting way and allowing the men to enter.
"Much appreciated, thank you," the man spoke pleased and didn't fail to notice the acidity tainted in their eyes behind the mask.
As he stepped through the two double doors he entered inside the kings' chamber, guards lined at the side, to which he could only guess is the result of special treatment for his arrival. There, Adrian stood, arms folded back with a crown confidently perched against his head.
In all his life of training, this was the most intimidating look he knew he could achieve and would be proud also knowing that its purpose was rightfully served. His wife, the Queen, stood next to him, a crown of her own with her hands placed resting in front of her. They had still expressions on their faces as they waited to see who would make the first move.
All three men bowed respectfully, the one in front spoke, "Your Majesty, it is an honor to have the fortune of being able to speak with you directly within your castle grounds."
'His Majesty' was not having any of that, "State your name and your business."
The man seemed displeased at his impatience and directness but still smiled nonetheless. "Forgive me, Your Majesty, humbleness is not a common trait of our people." He stood and gave a salute, one arm behind his back and a tight fist on his heart, the other three behind him did the same. "I am Cyrus Roman, the chief of the Pheonix clan, and I am here on behalf of establishing a deal with you."
"I see, so you came here to try to intimidate us?" The king crossed his arms, "I assure you whatever you desire from us is most likely something you already have. We share equal resources and equal economic standings, so there is no reason for us to be giving you anything."
Cyrus chuckled, "Your Majesty should hold his own nation in much higher regard. Even though the letter stated I would not arrive until tomorrow Your Majesty already predicted we would be here much sooner. I'm honestly grateful you hold our warships in such dignity to think we would make it here so soon despite the fact that truly the Neo Empire has much more efficient and fine high category vessels than we do-"
"So it is our ships that you seek? Why? so you can berate and harass us even more? You Emberians are all the same, I swear it."
Cyrus held his hands up in defense, "I should inform you Your Majesty that my tribe is not the same as the ones who are causing you such trouble. Please, allow me to explain: The Ember Domain, due to differences in opinions, is divided into four sectional regions. Each region is ruled by a clan with a different Chief in charge. The Pheonix clan is among those clans, we are in charge of monitoring the North. However, the clan that is bothering you at the moment would be the Dragon clan, who are in charge of the South."
He gave a smirk, "I should warn you it is highly offensive to group us together with those barbarians, although we share the same ancestor I promise we, we could not be anything less alike."
Adrian raised an eyebrow, "So you're here to save face? I'm still confused as to what are your true intentions. So far all you've done since you've arrived is yapping yet none of my questions have been answered yet."
"Well you see Your Majesty, the answer to your question, ironically, is actually another question itself." With a hand placed on his chest and his cocky grin grew even wider on his face.
"What is His Majesty's opinion on the topic of...war?"